For those avid readers amongst you, apologies it has been a week since we last posted! So……

We stayed at our first true motel when we reached Titusville, interestingly named Best Western Space Shuttle Inn (and no it is not shaped like a Space Shuttle before anybody asks)! Basic and clean with a good restaurant nearby, but just slightly odd. We visited the space centre, which we had done before but the whole area has changed for obvious SpaceX and Blue Origin reasons. We enjoyed the experience but as with a lot of things in the US now, it is over priced. Sadly the launch was cancelled due to the weather, re-scheduled for the next day.

We took the chance the following day to go to Wild Florida. We had a great Airboat ride, seeing an Eagle, Turtles, Herons and Alligators, and enjoyed their “zoo”, which is mainly Alligators, Crocodiles, Snakes and Birds, aka Florida wildlife 🙂. We then took the chance to drive to were Alice is staying in October, which was nearby, to take pictures for them, Unsurprisingly we were turned away at the gates as clearly we looked like undesirables 😄. At that point we were very close to Disney so we dropped in to Disney Springs for some dinner. When in Florida…….

Having then rushed back to Titusville for the re-scheduled launch, it was cancelled, again, due to the weather, again. At least we were staying nearby, we met some other Brits who had driven from Orlando specifically to see it. Not a huge distance but far enough to make it annoying.

We left Titusville the next day and headed to Miami. We stopped at two beautiful state parks on the way. We couldn’t explore them fully but had the joy of seeing Pelicans, Egrits, Storks and other wildlife. Also….BIG news….wait for it….Gem drove on public roads 🥳👏.

In Miami we stayed near South Beach and to be fair, the concrete boardwalk (🤨) is lovely, as is the beach. They are both very clean, well maintained, not overly busy, edged with a lot of greenery and a warm ish sea. Being Brits we couldn’t go onto the beach during the day for risk of literally melting, but in the evening it was lovely. Instead, we went to Wynwood Walls. Really interesting street art, which is a big deal in Miami. We then wandered down to Ocean Drive for diner, and yes there are plenty of people posing, wearing spandex, rollerblading etc., but there is also a lot of restaurants, bars and Art Deco buildings.

The next day we made use of Miami’s bus system, again, to find a launderette. Sounds dull but actually we have found that is one of the best ways to find the real part of wherever you are. We then jumped back on the bus and went to Little Havana. That is a melting pot of culture where Spanish is spoken far more than English (fairly obviously). We had lunch at a restaurant and experienced an older Cuban lady, our waitress, with little English and an apparent complete disdain for everyone who wasn’t Cuban 🫡 🇨🇺. We both expected to get a clip round the ear at any point for being wrong 😄, particularly when she asked if we wanted “protein” with our salads and we said no. She asked three times!

Quick note for the less insane people of the world – Americans no longer talk about meat and fish, they just call it Protein and ask “do you want protein with that”. Totally nuts 🤪.

We left Miami the following morning in what can only be described as a biblical rain storm ⛈. Having got the car we parked it outside the hotel and went to get the suitcases and check out. By the time we got back to the car (10 mins) it was in about 6-7″ of water (from nothing when we parked). It was like we had parked in a river! Loading up, our feet and ankles were completely underwater and we got totally soaked through in the time it took to load the suitcases and get in the car. As I write this (next day) my shoes have just dried out after I left them on top of the car in blazing heat for 5-6 hours.

We left Miami and drove to Key West. A journey that seems quite long at constantly low speed 🚗 bridge after bridge after bridge! The nature of Key West – touristy, sitting around a pool, boat trips, bars – is something that is quite alien to both of us, but it is an experience and that is what travelling is supposed to be about 👍. Onward to explore.

Pro-tip for American road planners – if you want to avoid the regular grid lock in cities try harder to sync the thousands of traffic lights 🙄